State Dinner for Hu: A Dash of Gravity

The White House state dinner for Chinese President Hu Jintao was much like the day of diplomacy that preceded it: pomp, circumstance and manners with an undercurrent of tension.

Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan arrives at the White House Wednesday for the state dinner in honor of China’s President Hu Jintao. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The elite of government, media, business and the arts snapped cell phone photos of the White House. Chinese and American musicians played a Ravel composition together. And Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan made Mr. Hu laugh when she told him that at age 30, she was too old to compete.

In his toast Wednesday evening, President Barack Obama suggested that the assembled look beyond “differences of culture and perspective” between the two countries. “Let us never forget the values that our people share,” he said. At the end of a jazz concert, Mr. Obama told the audience that he could see Mr. Hu tapping his feet to the music.

But at several dinner tables, American and Chinese guests engaged in polite but intense conversation about nettlesome issues such as human rights and foreign relations that divide the two nations and that underpinned the entire day.

“We had a very good conversation that was both very vigorous and very polite on the whole range of awkward issues,” said Nicholas Kristof, a New York Times columnist who attended the dinner as a guest and was seated with Dai Bingguo, who oversees foreign policy for the Chinese government. “He didn’t shrink from the chance to push back.”

The White House dinner, held after a day of bilateral talks, was about many things: respect, something the Chinese crave; American culture, which the White House showed off with jazz and apple pie; and it was about bringing some bling to Washington, with Barbra Streisand, Vogue editor Anna Wintour and Jackie Chan parading into the White House before reporters, who normally ask about federal policy, inquiring: “Who are you wearing?”

For Ms. Kwan, whose parents are both ethnically Chinese and who is now studying public policy, the dinner was a gee-whiz opportunity to gaze at celebrities like former President Jimmy Carter and Henry Kissinger, the former secretary of state. She made it a point to say hello to Mr. Carter, who once awarded her a Goodwill Games medal. “I was like stunned, stunned that he remembered me,” she said.

Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, figured he was invited to the dinner to send a message to the Chinese government, and made the most of his chance. In the receiving line, he greeted President Obama with a quick hello and then turned to Mr. Hu.

Mr. Roth introduced himself and explained: “We monitor human rights conditions around the world. We criticize the U.S. government but also have a dialogue with it about improving its human rights record. And we would like a similar dialogue with your government.”

Mr. Hu replied with a nod, but no substantive response, Mr. Roth said. “He was cordial.”

Mr. Roth had a chance for a more substantive conversation at his dinner table, where he was seated one spot away from the Chinese ambassador to the U.S., Zhang Yesui. In between sat Mary Kaye Huntsman, the wife of Jon Huntsman, the U.S. ambassador to China, and the three of them engaged in a long conversation about human rights in China, Mr. Roth said.

He said Mr. Zhang raised the topic of political activist Liu Xiaobo, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and political activist who remains imprisoned in China. The ambassador said Mr. Liu is more dangerous than Americans understand, Mr. Roth recalled. The human-rights activist challenged that, saying his ideas are peaceful.

They are misguided, the ambassador replied, according to Mr. Roth. “We didn’t agree in the end, not that I expected to,” Mr. Roth said. Mr. Zhang could not be reached for comment.

At Mr. Kristof’s table, only three people spoke Chinese: Mr. Dai, Mr. Kristof, and Mr. Kristof’s wife, Sheryl WuDunn. In the presence of Vice President Joe Biden and others, the substantive discussion with Mr. Dai centered on this small group, Mr. Kristof said. For the others, a translator was on hand.

“It was kind of refreshing to talk not just about the weather,” he said.

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